In 1805, Dambækgaard was relocated from the nearby village of Endeslev to the open fields, a significant event that shaped its current form. Some parts of the buildings can be traced back to this historic move, adding to the farm’s rich history.
In 1935, the Dambæk family built a new main house, and luckily, the last resident, Hans, hadn’t renovated it.
Having visited more than 60 farms around Zealand, Funen and Falster, where they felt the charm had been renovated out of the houses, Jan and Kirstine fell in love with the fact that the house appeared very authentic and presented itself as when it was built in 1935. When they bought the farm in July 2010, they started renovating as gently as possible, aiming to keep it true to the original.
The dream was to live a self-sufficient life, as true to pre-industrial principles as possible. In 2015, the family joined the WWOOF network, an exchange network that offers learning, food, and accommodation to people who want to learn about self-sufficiency, sustainability, and ecology without volunteering on the farm.
One of the volunteers eventually convinced Jan and Kirstine that they should reach out further than just the volunteers and planted the idea of using the farm’s buildings to inspire more people.
Since then, the couple’s vision has been to inspire guests and course participants to a more sustainable and climate-friendly lifestyle.
Among other things, they do this by building on principles of recycling, the lowest possible carbon emissions, their unique use of upcycling in their interior design, and, of course, in the kitchen, where Kirstine’s authentic culinary country kitchen is based on farm-to-table food prepared by own and local products, and through Jan’s tours or foraging trips, where he likes to talk about the principles around animal husbandry, wastewater solutions, cultivation and much more.
Dambækgaard ｜ Hårlevvejen 12, 4652 Hårlev ｜ 61 72 06 09 ｜ info@dambaekgaard.net
